The news of the two Mas going out to collect debts spread throughout the entire sect, thanks to Senior Brother Ma Biao's loose lips, which were even less tight than a dead man's.
Chu Xinghe didn't even need to speak about this debt collection trip; just listening to the other senior and junior brothers was enough.
"I think Senior Brothers Ma Biao and Ma Liang won't have an easy time this time."
"Those sects have owed us for so many years... I heard the Great Elder has visited them two or three times and still couldn't get the money back."
"Those sects are so outrageous, why don't we just wipe them out!"
The one who said such harsh words was Junior Brother Mu Bai, who had just heard the news.
Senior Brother Feng Fei immediately responded to Mu Bai's words: "Junior Brother Mu Bai, you're still too young. Try to say such things less in the future."
Then, Senior Brother Feng Fei explained to Mu Bai why the Grand Sky Sect hadn't wiped out those sects.
It's not that we lack the strength, but because... our Grand Sky Sect is a righteous sect, damn it!
Junior Brother Mu Bai, what you just suggested sounds very much like something the Demonic Sect would do, you know?We, the righteous path, care about our reputation... Even though those old debtors are excessive, they are also part of the righteous path, and they haven't done anything particularly despicable or shameless. They even claim to be allies of the Grand Sky Sect, and they don't publicly say they have money but just won't pay.
Their public stance is that they genuinely can't afford to pay. If the Grand Sky Sect were to destroy them under such circumstances, what would happen to the reputation of the number one sect in the world?
What does it mean when they say that public opinion is terrifying... Even if the Grand Sky Sect is number one in the world, sometimes matters of face still need to be maintained.
Although it's said that one must be ruthless to hold a position, the ruthlessness must be applied at the right time.
If we really destroyed those guys, regardless of who knows or doesn't know, they'd say the Grand Sky Sect wiped out its allies over some money. Would the Grand Sky Sect still have any face left?
At that point, those with ulterior motives wouldn't say the Grand Sky Sect acted because of debt collection. Instead, they'd label us as slaughtering allies. What then? Can the Grand Sky Sect wipe out everyone?
Would the Grand Sky Sect be the number one righteous sect or the number one Demonic Sect, damn it?
Although Mu Bai was very angry, he agreed with Senior Brother Feng Fei's explanation.
Because this is the difference between the righteous path and the Demonic Sect. The Demonic Sect can completely disregard any semblance of decency, but the righteous path cannot...
So even Senior Brother Feng Fei didn't hold much hope for the two Mas' debt collection mission.
Early the next morning, the two Mas set off on their journey, personally seen off by the Great Elder. The Great Elder even considered using the teleportation array to send them himself, but fortunately, Chu Xinghe stopped him.
Chu Xinghe said, "Great Elder, I'm currently at a critical point in my study of the teleportation array, so please give me a chance to demonstrate my skills."
Finally, after the Great Elder nodded, Chu Xinghe breathed a sigh of relief and personally set up the teleportation array for Ma Biao and Ma Liang.
It wasn't until the light of the teleportation array faded that Chu Xinghe finally relaxed...
If the Great Elder had intervened, whether the debt collection succeeded or not, Ma Biao and Ma Liang definitely wouldn't have returned...
After sending Ma Liang off, Chu Xinghe was in high spirits, no longer having to worry about Ma Liang suddenly jumping out from behind to stab him.
Life became much more pleasant.
However, this pleasant life lasted only about ten days before the two Mas returned...
As soon as he got the news, Chu Xinghe rushed to the mountain gate, and the moment Ma Liang saw Senior Brother Xinghe, tears welled up in his eyes.
"Senior Brother Xinghe... they were really shameless... I... I failed to live up to your expectations..."
Hearing Ma Liang's words, Chu Xinghe almost couldn't resist breaking into a congratulatory dance on the spot!
Ma Liang, oh Ma Liang, you finally have a taste of your own medicine... You finally understand what it means for people to be treacherous, don't you?
You damn well finally know what shamelessness means, don't you?
There are plenty of people in this world more shameless than you, Ma Liang.
You went out joyfully to collect debts, only to return home full of sorrow and regret!
Soon, Chu Xinghe learned from Ma Liang and Ma Biao what had happened over the past ten days.
The first stop for the two Mas was the Sunset Sect. Just listen to that name; you can tell this sect isn't doing well...
Upon their arrival, the Great Elder of the Sunset Sect personally received them. Before Ma Liang could even speak, the Great Elder of the Sunset Sect said,
"We owe the Grand Sky Sect so much money, and it's been so many years. We're really anxious about it, constantly thinking about repaying, but we're powerless to do so...
The conditions simply don't allow it..." Then came a barrage of poverty-stricken complaints... Ma Liang couldn't even utter the harsh words he had prepared before they were sent away from the Sunset Sect.
The Sunset Sect was relatively decent compared to the others. The following sects were even more outrageous. Not only did they cry poverty, but they also showed Ma Liang the pitiful state of their disciples, who were even worse off than the miner disciples of the Grand Sky Sect. Ma Liang was dumbfounded seeing them.
Previously, when Qin Xiangqian mentioned that many people wanted to become miner disciples at the Tianyi Spirit Mine, Ma Liang wondered if there was some exaggeration.
But after seeing the treatment of these sects' disciples, Ma Liang suddenly realized that the miner disciples' treatment was incredibly high...
In ten days, the two Mas visited eight sects, and as everyone saw, they returned empty-handed. Two shameless sects even asked Ma Liang if they could borrow more.
Ma Liang almost agreed to it... Fortunately, at the last moment, he realized, "I'm here to collect debts, damn it..."
After returning empty-handed, the two Mas went to report to the Great Elder, detailing the entire debt collection process.
The Great Elder seemed to have anticipated their failure and showed no signs of disappointment, even comforting Ma Liang and Ma Biao.
Ma Biao was fine since he had taken on this task before and had gone out a few times, with results not much different from this time.
The rest of the sect wasn't surprised by the news of their failure, as most had already predicted this outcome.
Chu Xinghe also comforted Ma Liang with a face full of joy... and encouraged Ma Liang to keep up the good work, assuring him that Senior Brother Xinghe still believed in him!
But Ma Liang couldn't accept this result...
I, Ma Liang, am Senior Brother Xinghe's number one confidant!
When have I ever let Senior Brother Xinghe down?
Look at how embarrassed I am returning this time. Although Senior Brother Xinghe kept comforting me, saying that victory and defeat are common in warfare, I let Senior Brother Xinghe down this time!
Senior Brother Xinghe had such high hopes for me, and even though I failed this time, he didn't blame me, but I, Ma Liang, can't get over it.
Regarding Ma Liang's stubbornness, Chu Xinghe wasn't worried at all this time. Ma Liang, you can collect debts however you want; Senior Brother Xinghe won't stop you.
Are those old debtors people that can be easily dealt with?
It's likely that even Misfortune and Fortune Essence can't handle them!
So this time, your Senior Brother Xinghe has the entire world's old debtors backing him against Fortune Essence and Misfortune. How could we lose?
So Chu Xinghe directly instructed Ma Liang not to give up after one, two, three, four... or even countless failures. Ma Liang, from today on, you're in charge of debt collection for our Grand Sky Sect. You and Senior Brother Ma Biao will be the leaders of our debt collection team.
As long as Junior Brother Ma Liang persists, you'll eventually find that you can't always fail. After all, there must be a couple of debtors with a conscience in the world, right?
Grateful for Senior Brother Xinghe's high expectations, Ma Liang reflected on his failure.
The main reason for this failure was that those old debtors were too shameless, and he never expected them to have so many shameless tactics.
But the most crucial factor was his lack of experience.
Ma Liang thought that debt collection was just about going to someone's place, telling them it's time to pay up, saying a few harsh words, and the other party would be scared into paying.
But reality proved otherwise; these debtor sects would cry poverty at the slightest disagreement.
Ma Liang wasn't incapable of saying harsh words or making threats, but as soon as he started, they would say... "We're allies of the Grand Sky Sect, we've shed blood for the Grand Sky Sect..."
Ma Liang didn't want to stand on the moral high ground to punish them, but damn it, they had no morals to begin with, so how could he morally punish them?
After thinking it over, Ma Liang felt the best approach was to find some senior brothers and sisters with debt collection experience to learn from, to break through himself and not let Senior Brother Xinghe down.
But after going through the entire Grand Sky Sect, Ma Liang was shocked.
When the senior brothers and sisters from various palaces heard that Ma Liang was seeking debt collection experience, they all looked bewildered.
Debt collection? What debt collection? We have no such experience!
Ma Liang was almost in tears seeing the confused looks of the senior brothers and sisters.
At this moment, Ma Liang realized that the senior brothers and sisters were right... Most of the disciples of the Grand Sky Sect come from noble backgrounds...
Look at someone like Gu Feng, who claims to come from an ordinary family at the slightest disagreement...
But that's not Gu Feng being modest; it's because there are many senior and junior brothers with more impressive family backgrounds than Gu Feng, and Gu Feng genuinely thinks his family is ordinary.
So how could these noble-born senior and junior brothers have any experience in debt collection?
Even the senior and junior brothers from ordinary backgrounds in the sect didn't have such experience, so Ma Liang's quest for knowledge ended before it even began.
Ma Liang was truly worried... As Senior Brother Xinghe's number one confidant, the first disciple in the sect's history to be relegated to the outer sect and never allowed to advance to the inner sect, the future Great Elder of the Grand Sky Sect, Ma Liang... Can I really let these old debtors get the better of me?
So Ma Liang was full of defiance, but no matter how defiant, it was useless... He couldn't find anyone with debt collection experience to teach him... Even Senior Brother Feng Fei, who was previously in charge of this, said he had no successful experiences to share, only failures...
But what use are failures to me, Ma Liang, damn it?
Just when Ma Liang was in utter despair, he arrived at the Artifact Refining Palace.
"What? Debt collection experience? Our Ouyang Family doesn't have any... We've always been the ones owing debts and not paying... We never had the chance to collect debts... If you want debt collection experience, we don't have it, but if you want to hear about our years as debtors, we can chat with you about that, Senior Brother Ma Liang..."
Ouyang Ming said, casually picking up a Spirit Cloud Fruit shaped like a cantaloupe with the Light of Xinghe...